Fil-Aussie wins Photographer of the Year media award

Violi Calvert

Multi-awarded writer, editor and publisher of The Filipino Australian, Romeo Cayabyab, added another feather to his cap by winning the NSW Parliament’s 2014 Photographer of the Year – Multicultural & Indigenous Media Award (MIMA). He received the award at the MIMA Awards Ceremony held at the Parliament in Sydney on 10 September 2014.

Romeo took several photos on May 25 at the “Walk for Respect” march in Lakemba. The photos are a story of multicultural and indigenous communities in action, and of unity and cohesion to protect multicultural Australia and the principles upon which it was founded.

There were at least five photos that stood out to tell the story of the day. The story is about multicultural and indigenous communities walking together to register their protest against the proposed amendments to Section 18C of the Federal Racial Discrimination Act.

The amendments, proposed by Attorney General Senator George Brandis, would weaken the protections against hate speech and bigotry enshrined in said Section 18C. The photos tell the viewers what the event – “Walk for Respect” - was about, who the lead organisers were, who the participants were, and what the overall atmosphere was during the march.

In the inaugural awards held in September 2012, Romeo also won the award for ‘Coverage of Community Affairs in Australia’. Later in the year, he was a joint winner for the award ‘Best Website in the Interactive Media’ in the Migration Advocacy & Media. The MAM awards were conducted by the Commission on Filipinos Overseas under the Office of the Philippine President.

A community media trailblazer, he was the recipient of the inaugural award for ‘Winner for Technology’ in the NSW Premier’s Multicultural Marketing Awards back in 2000.